Washington: Suzan DelBene Donates $900K to Campaign This Month

Democrat Suzan DelBene this month donated $900,000 to her campaign in Washington state’s 1st district, according to preprimary reports filed Thursday to the Federal Election Commission.

The former Microsoft executive has given her campaign a total of $1.9 million to date, dwarfing her opponents’ fundraising and allowing her a huge edge in spending. Since mid-June, DelBene has spent $1.3 million on TV and $365,000 on mail, according to figures from her past two FEC reports.

DelBene is one of several Democrats running in the Aug. 7 all-party primary. Because the district is largely split between the two parties and only one Republican is running, just one Democrat is expected to be among the top two finishers in the “jungle” primary.

Snohomish County Councilman John Koster is the lone Republican. The other Democrats include former Microsoft manager Darcy Burner, state Sen. Steve Hobbs, former state Rep. Laura Ruderman and tech executive Darshan Rauniyar. An automated poll conducted for King 5 and reported today found DelBene and Burner in a close race for second behind Koster.

Other than DelBene, only Ruderman spent money on TV advertising from July 1-18. She raised $42,000 in that span, spent $256,000 and had $62,000 left in cash on hand. Burner raised $64,000, spent $73,000 and had $77,000 in cash on hand. Hobbs spent the least and Rauniyar raised the least during the preprimary period.

Stretching from north King County to the Canadian border, the 1st district was redrawn as the most competitive in the state. The seat is currently vacant after Rep. Jay Inslee (D) resigned to run for governor. Roll Call rates it as a Tossup.